


A Birthday

by Elle_Lavender



Category: Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha | Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-08-21
Packaged: 2019-06-13 19:34:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15371790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elle_Lavender/pseuds/Elle_Lavender
Summary: With no recorded birthday, Fate decides to assign one for herself with some help from her family and friends.





	1. A Birth Date

Fate couldn’t take her eyes of the date marked on the calendar. April 3rd. “Only a week until my sister’s birthday.” 

“You’re not going to celebrate your birthday on that day anymore?” Arf was in a puppy form, curled up in her master’s arms. 

Fate shook her head, patting her companion with a sad smile. “I don’t want to take big sister’s birthday. Besides, I never really celebrated it, except when you and Linith would insist that I have a cake.” Fate recalled fondly.

“It took so much time to get you to just wear a party hat!” Arf complained.

“I’m sorry!” Fate lightly chuckled. “I had other things on my mind at the time,” she turned to the photograph of a smiling Precia and Alicia with a melancholic smile.

“The TSAB wasn’t able to find the Precia Mother cloned when they looked through the remnants of the Garden of Time,“ Fate said. 

Arf snuggled closer to Fate, drawing her out of the funk she was sinking into. “But, you could always pick a day to celebrate. Fate deserves to have a birthday as much as anyone else.”

Fate shook her head, gently placing her companion on the ground. “It’s fine, Arf. I don’t want to bother anyone with something so trivial. We don’t have to think about it, okay?”

After a prolonged pause, Arf finally nodded, trotting merrily from her master’s room.

Fate had a feeling that her familiar hadn't listened to a word she’d said.

*** 

Later that day, Fate descended the stairs to see Arf lounging beside Lindy on the couch. Lindy was busily scribbling onto a pad of paper, her brow furrowed in deep concentration. 

“… Lindy-san?” Fate questioned, a slight uneasiness forming in the back of her mind. 

“Ah, Fate! Come on down! There’s something I’d like to talk to you about,” Lindy rose the couch, discarding her pen and paper and approached Fate with a gentle smile. 

“A-Arf! I told you not to say anything!” 

Her familiar simply giggled, flicking her tale about in cheeky satisfaction.

“Now Fate,” Lindy said as she leaned down to be at level with her girl, lightly holding her hand. “You’ve been with us for a year now, and we didn’t know when your birthday was.”  
“I don’t really have one,” Fate muttered. 

“That’s why I think it’s a good idea for you to make a date you want to celebrate it. Take your time and think about a day you would like.”

“You don’t have to worry! I-it’s really not important!”

“It is to me. And it would be important to Chrono, Nanoha, and all your friends. You coming into our lives makes us happy. We want to celebrate that.”

Fate looked down at her and Lindy’s hand with a slight smile, her cheeks flushing. “Okay, I’ll think of a day.” Lindy wrapped her in a warm embrace. 

***

After a particularly long training session with Signum at TSAB headquarters, Fate and Signum decided to have a break for snacks at the cafeteria. Fate noted that Signum had been watching throughout the training session like there was something on her mind. 

“So, Testarossa,”Signum finally broke the silence. “When do are you going to invite me, Master Hayate and the others to your birthday celebration?” She asked nonchalantly.  
Fate swallowed hard to avoid spitting her orange juice on her friend. “Signum! Did Arf tell you too?”  
“Your familiar is talkative.” 

“I still can’t decide on a day,” Fate admitted with a bashful grin.

Signum smiled in her calm understated manner. “Master Hayate gave all of us Wolkenritter a birthdate. She said it was so we good celebrate who we are as individuals and a family,” Signum explained in a pensive manner.

“Hayate is so kind and thoughtful.”

“Why don’t you pick a day where can celebrate who you as a person. You should pick a day that you’d like to enjoy with the people closest to you.”

“Enjoy with the people closest to me …” Fate’s head shot up, her eyes widening in realization.

“I think I’ve made up my mind now, Signum! Thank you!”

Signum watched in confusion as the girl finished up her drink and sprinted away. 

***

Fate waited, stiff-shouldered in the living room for Nanoha to come down. She was usually comfortable around the two of them. But as they offered her snacks and tried to start small talk, she politely declined and sat in quiet anticipation. 

When Nanoha finally descended the steps while drying her hair with a towel, Fate didn’t move for her place on the couch, suddenly feeling very self-conscious. “Sorry I took so long in the bath, Fate-chan – uh, Fate-chan? Are you all right? You look nervous.” Nanoha approached her friend with a concerned gaze.

“Oh, I’m fine. I just have something I want to ask you about. Could we please talk in private?” Nanoha nodded with her cheery smile, took Fate’s hand and led her up to her room. 

“Um, so ..” Fate was suddenly at a loss for words, forgetting what she’d planned to say. “You remember that Arf said I was deciding on a day to celebrate my birthday?”

Nanoha nodded, taking Fate’s hands in hers. “I’m looking forward to the day we can celebrate it together!”

Fate took a deep breath and looked Nanoha in the eyes. Those words gave her the courage she needed. “I’ve been thinking, Signum said I should make it a day that has significance to me. And I feel like the day we became friends on the bridge almost a year ago, was when I could finally be myself. So, could I make that day, June 2nd, my birthday?”

Nanoha stood completely still, taking in her words. “N-Nanoha?” Fate’s eyes began to flit about nervously.

“Yes! Please do that, Fate-chan!” Nanoha finally said, wrapping her arms around Fate in a tight hug.

“Huh?” Was all Fate could manage to say in her confused and dazed state of mind. 

Nanoha parted from the embrace to look her friend in the eye. “That day on the bridge will always be special to me, and the fact you want it to be your birthday … I don’t know if I can properly put into words. But it makes me really happy! Thank you, Fate-chan.” Nanoha gripped Fate’s hands tightly.

“Uh, no! I should be thanking you!” Fate stammered, a ball of warmth forming in her chest. 

***

When Fate returned home and announced to Chrono, Arf, and Lindy that her birthday was June 2nd, everyone was overjoyed. 

Chrono expressed his joy in the form of a curt nod and a gentle smile. Meanwhile, Lindy expressed by sweeping Fate into a hug and twirling her in her arms, while Arf barked. “We have to continue our plans Arf!” Lindy wore the biggest grin Fate had ever seen on her soon-to-be adoptive mother. 

No one seemed to hear Fate’s protests that her birthday was well over a month away.


	2. A Celebration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The lead-up to, and the arrival of, Fate's first real birthday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning, this chapter gets pretty dark in beginning, with depictions of abuse and trauma.

The days past quietly as June 2nd drew closer. But amidst everyone’s joy and excitement, Fate smiled and nodded when anyone talked about the upcoming day, but at night, her sleep was disjointed and haunting as sad dreams began to fill her sleep. 

Memories of times she had thought about less and less as the peaceful, happy months with her rolled by. But each night, memories of her mother falling into an abyss as she held out her hand, unable to save her. Because she was only a fake, a poor copy that could never make her grieving mother smile. 

Fate kept the nightmares to herself, not wanting to bother anyone, but the nightmares started to become more vivid and real.

Her Mother approached with slow deliberate steps, her eyes cold and harsh. Fate woke in a cold sweat, looking around her frantically, panting heavily. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm herself. 

Fate threw off her blankets and tiptoed to her bedroom door. It gave a gentle creak as she pushed it open. No one was around.  
But as she tip-toed down the stairs, she saw a small light coming from the living room. Fate looked over the railing to see Lindy curled up on the sofa. 

Fate turned, deciding to return to her room when a creaking stair gave her away. Lindy looked up at Fate. “Fate? What are you doing up? Come, down here,” her guardian’s voice was filled with concern.

Fate slumped her shoulders. “Okay.”

As she gingerly sat next to Lindy, she noticed her guardian wrapped in a blanket with a pot of tea sitting on the table. “Here. Let me get you some tea!” Lindy rushed to the kitchen before Fate could protest. When she returned to her place beside Fate, cup in hand, draping the blanket over both of them before pouring the tea. 

“Thank you, I'm sorry for bothering you Lindy-san.” 

“Did you have a nightmare?”

Fate nodded, lost in her thoughts, she stared blankly down at the steaming cup Lindy placed in front of her. Her eyes glazed over and her mind began to drift far away. 

A gentle hand running over her hair brought her back. Fate’s head darted up to look at Lindy, whose eyes were filled with concern. 

“Uh, oh, sorry … Mother keeps appearing in my dream lately.” Fate admitted. “I feel like there’s so much I couldn’t do … 

I should be excited with everyone else, but a part of me still wonders if I deserve everything I have now.”

Lindy wrapped an arm around her daughter, drawing her close. “It hurts knowing, that sometimes, there’s nothing you can do to save someone you care for. But you know what? Nanoha and your friends would tell you that you’ve done so much for them. Wouldn’t they?”

“That’s … true.” Fate fidgeted with the frilled hem of the large comforter. 

“You saved Nanoha,” Lindy stated simply. 

“Hm. I was finally able to help Nanoha after all she did for me when I came back from the Book of Darkness.”  
Fate blinked in confusion when her mother rumbled out a gentle chuckle in response.

“Yes, you did save Nanoha-san’s life then. But I meant that you saved her from her loneliness. Sometimes just being with someone is enough to help them. And Momoko-san has told me many times that her daughter is much happier now that you’re with her.

Fate’s eyes bulged. Her cheeks began to glow a deep crimson. She stuttered out something unintelligible. With a fond chortle, Lindy wrapped both of her arms around the girl.  
“And you know what? Having you with me has made me happier too. Same goes for Chrono,” Lindy whispered. 

She felt the girl wrap her small, strong arms around her middle, “Thank you,” she murmured into her future mother’s shoulder. After several cups of tea two fell drifted off to sleep on the sofa, huddled together under the blanket.

Fate didn’t stir until the rays morning sun flittered through the window, her eyes fluttered open, a gentle warmth enveloped her. 

However, the irritable snaps of the newly awakened stirred Fate into alertness. Amy and Chrono trudged down the steps to the living room, all the while bickering about the orange tie with yellow stripes that Amy had bought for him. 

***

Fate sprouted a small, bashful smile at the words “Fate’s birthday,” scrawled out in yellow pen under the date, June 2nd. 

Puppy Arf was curled up in her arms. “Are you ready?” Fate gave a quick nod and carried her familiar to the edge of the stairs. Below, dozens of people were gathered, chatting casually as Amy and Lindy distributed trays of food. Fate recognised Alicia, Suzuka and their families, Hayate and the Wolkenritter who were teasing a sulking Chrono with an orange tie with yellow stripes. 

And then the entire Takamachi family arrived, with Nanoha practically skipping into the living room. Nanoha spotted Fate watching everyone from the top of the stairs, and waved vigorously at her best friend with an expression of pure joy. 

Arf hopped from her master’s arms and bounced down the stairs. Fate soon followed, her legs descending down the long staircase so fast, she could barely feel them. When Fate reached the ground, Nanoha tackled her in a tight hug, nearly knocking them both to the ground. Nanoha pulled away to look directly at Fate.  
“Fate-c –“

“Nanoha.” Fate took her friend’s hand, her deep red eyes fixed resolutely on Nanoha. “I didn’t thank you properly when I asked if it was all right to make today my birthday. So, thank you for always being there for me. Today, wouldn’t be happening without you. Let’s celebrate important dates together from now on.” Fate felt her face burning a deep red, almost as deep as Nanoha’s, who was nodding furiously in agreement and wrapped her arms around her companion in another tight embrace. However, they abruptly separated as cheers and applause erupted from their friends and family. 

Fate noticed Signum giving Vita a firm shove in the shoulder after she overheard the red-headed Wolkenritter ask if the celebration had turned into a wedding. 

Fate’s face somehow managed to burn an even deeper red. However, she also felt a sense of irrepressible joy rise up from her chest and she burst into a fit of laughter as she walked out into the crowd, clutching Nanoha’s hand. And for the briefest of moments, Fate could have sworn that she saw a smiling Alicia and Lynith waving at the back of the crowd.


End file.
